transition into solid food, and holy shit, my head was spinning when I walked down that baby food aisle at the market. I didn’t even know where to start.” She laughed softly, sweetly, and even that had Orlando smiling a little too big.
“Easiest way to go about it is start off simple. Baby cereal mixed with his formula and nothing else. You introduce one new food at a time and wait a few days before introducing another, in case he has an allergic reaction or gets an upset stomach. You can narrow down the culprit easier that way.”
Orlando listened almost in awe as she went on explaining a few other solid food do’s and don’ts like a pro. He was almost pissed he’d mentioned his mom had him tomorrow and Tuesday. He’d have to wait until Wednesday now to have her do this in person.
They finished up with her scheduled to be at his place both Wednesday and Thursday and then she added, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
That confused him. “Tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I’ll call Nine back and let him know I can be at the shop starting tomorrow and that this week I’ll be doing Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. So, I can help you out Wednesday, Thursday, and over the weekend.”
He’d been so caught up chastising himself for not making it sound more urgent so that she’d start sooner, he forgotten how soon Nine wanted her to start at the shop. Orlando would be seeing her again as soon as tomorrow. Smiling a little too big, Orlando wrapped up the call, reminding himself that he was just relieved that he’d finally found someone so competent to help him with Baby O—someone who clearly knew what she was talking about when it came to this baby stuff, despite how young she looked. So what if he was still smiling about the fact that he’d get to see her all day tomorrow and Tuesday? He was just eager to get started on what he’d be regarding as training. Given the confidence she’d shown as she passed on the tips, for all he knew, she might even have children of her own. Not sure how he felt about that. But if she had kids with her boyfriend, it’d be all the more a deterrent from getting any ideas about her and possibly lose a perfect sitter. Because if she’d handled the baby like The Baby Whisperer over the phone, he could only imagine how amazing she’d be in person. That’s all this was. He chuckled inwardly as he peeked into the nursery where the baby was now sleeping soundly. As a matter of fact, he was going to go write down some of the other stuff that’d baffled him so far when it came to this unexpected change in his life. Tomorrow he’d get a head start on all the millions of questions he had for her.
Chapter 8
Orlando
“What makes her so qualified?” Orlando opened his mouth to answer but then thought better of it. Gushing about how amazing Danica was, as he had when he told his mom about her that morning, might not go over so well with Felicia.
Even his mom had called him on it. “Is she pretty, Orlando?” She’d smiled, peering at him playfully. “Because she sounds great, but you sound just a little too excited about this.”
Orlando had quickly backpedaled, toning it down, reiterating how incredibly frustrated and lost he’d been feeling until she called and fixed everything up just like that. “Over the phone, Ma!”
He’d almost gone back to raving about how he could hardly wait to see her in action in person. But he managed to calm his ass down and get out of his mom’s house before she could make any more assumptions.
“She’s going to school for this stuff,” Orlando said, answering Felicia’s question. “Child development,” he added when he remembered exactly what Danica had said. “She’s not fully licensed yet, but she’s already working with kids. Special needs kids even.”
“And you checked her credentials?”
“I told you she’s still a student. She doesn’t have any yet.”
“So, how’d you find this girl?”
The other line beeped, and Orlando could see it was his mom calling. He was instantly concerned because she never called when she had the baby unless there was some kind of issue. “That’s my mom on the other line,” he said quickly. “I gotta take this, Felicia. And I’m at the shop now, so I’ll just talk to you later. Okay, bye.”
Before she could even respond, he